1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic transaction apparatus and automatic transaction control method for performing automatic transaction operations according to commands from a host, and a control program thereof, and more particularly to an automatic transaction apparatus and automatic transaction control method for enabling the automatic transaction operation of models with different specifications using an interface common with the host, and a control program thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automatic transaction apparatus are used for various transactions, and in the financial field, for example, automatic withdrawal machines and automatic deposit/withdrawal machines are used, and in other fields, automatic ticket machines and automatic issuing machines are used.
Such an automatic transaction apparatus is normally connected to a host, and deposits/withdrawals, issues tickets and outputs various information using a host database. FIG. 37 is a block diagram of a conventional automatic transaction system, and shows an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine) for financial operations.
As FIG. 37 shows, the host (server) 300 and the automatic cash transaction apparatus 400 are connected via a network. The host 300 has an ATM application layer and a service server for controlling the automatic transaction apparatus (ATM) 400, and controls the ATM 400 using the service server and the ATM application layer.
In the ATM 400, on the other hand, the ATM middleware 410 and the device driver 430 operate under the control of the kernel (OS) 420, and I/O operations (transaction operations) are performed. The ATM 400 comprises a card reader/writer unit 440, receipt/journal printer 441, bill/coin processing unit 442, passbook processing unit 443 and the customer operation panel 444 as the I/O mechanism units.
The ATM middleware 410 is an application program for controlling each of the above mentioned I/O units according to instructions from the host 300, and is comprised of a state layer 412 for interfacing with the host, an I/O client layer 414 for controlling an individual I/O unit, an I/O server layer 416 for starting and ending an I/O operation and controlling the communication protocol, and the I/O service provider layer 418 for converting messages with each I/O unit.
This ATM middleware 410 is for generating commands and data for operating each I/O unit according to the instructions from the host 300. Because of this, the ATM middleware 410 is designed according to a specific interface with the host 300, the configuration of each I/O unit 440-444, and vender specific information of the apparatus.
On the other hand, it has been proposed to change the individual setup information of the automatic transaction apparatus, such as the financial institution number where the apparatus is installed, the branch number, the host line type and the line speed, via the WEB, using such a protocol as TCP/IP for example (e.g. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-260068).
In this proposal, fixed setup information, depending on the OS and application of the automatic transaction apparatus, can be continuously used for a changed OS and application, enabling and guaranteeing compatibility between different apparatus.
Recently because of demands for an open system, and because of mergers and the integration of the users of financial institutions, there is the desire to operate multi-model multi-vender automatic transaction apparatus with the same ATM applications (architecture).
In the case of a conventional automatic transaction apparatus, a same ATM middleware 410 can be used if the model and the functional range of the automatic transaction apparatus are the same, and if the specifications of I/O units are the same as well. However, a same ATM middleware cannot be used if the model and the functional range of the automatic transaction apparatus and the specifications of the I/O units are different.
For this reason, in order to operate the automatic transaction apparatus for which the model, functional range and specifications of I/O units are different, with the same ATM applications using a common interface, the ATM middleware 410 of an individual automatic transaction apparatus must be designed accordingly.
Therefore a conventional ATM middleware (asset) cannot be used, and the spread of systems for operating multi-model multi-vender automatic transaction apparatus is being interrupted. In particular this is the case of increasing the burden of integrating systems when the users of financial institutions merge.